Integrating multifactor blood analysis is a key step toward a precise diagnosis of the health status of marine mammals. Variations in the circulating lipid profile reflect changes in the metabolism and physiology of an individual. To demonstrate the practicability of lipid profiling for physiological assessment, the phosphorylcholinecontaining lipids in the plasma of long-term managed beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) were profiled using a lipidomics methodology. Using a multivariate analysis, the mean corpuscular volume, cholesterol, potassium, and γ-glutamyltranspeptidase levels were well modeled with the lipid profile of the female whales. In the models, the correlated lipids provided information about blood parameter-related metabolism and physiological regulation, in particular relating to cholesterol and inflammation. In the males, the levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, plasma iron, and segmented neutrophil were well modeled with the lipid profile. In addition to providing information about the related metabolism and regulation, through a crosslinked analysis of the blood parameters, the correlated lipids indicated a parallel regulation involved in the energy metabolism of the male whales. Lipidomics as a method for revealing the context of physiological change shows practical potential for the health care of managed whales. K E Y W O R D Sblood test, captive animal, phospholipid, plasma lipids, PPAR

No abstract

A two-dimensional (2D) hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and reverse-phase (RP) liquid chromatography (LC) system coupled with triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (MS) was developed to comprehensively profile ceramides and phosphatidylcholine in extracted biological samples. Briefly, the 2D HILIC-RPLC system used a silica HILIC column operated in the first dimension to distinguish the lipid classes and a BEH C18 column operated in the second dimension to separate the lipid species of the same class. The regression linearity of each lipid was satisfactory in both systems; however, the absolute matrix effect factor was reduced in 2D LC-MS/MS system. Limits of detection of 2D LC-MS/MS system were 2- to 3-fold lower compared with one-dimensional RPLC-MS/MS. The recovery from the sample ranged from 84.5 to 110%. To summarize, the developed method was proven to be accurate and producible, as relative standard deviations remained <20% at three spiked levels. The efficiency of this newly developed system was applied to measure changes of lipids in the liver of mice after naphthalene treatment. Orthogonal projection to latent structures-discriminant analysis discriminated the lipids from control and the treatment group. We concluded that 2D LC-MS/MS is a promising method to assist lipidomic studies of complex biological samples.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Acute toxic responses as well as uptake and depuration rates for tributyltin (TBT) and dibutyltin (DBT) were examined in the small planktonic shrimp, Acetes intermedius. The 72-h LC(50) values of TBT and DBT for the shrimp were found to be 18.6 and 82.6 microg L(-1) as tin. The uptake rate constants of TBT and DBT in the shrimp were 0.0006 and 0.0002 L g(-1) h(-1), and the corresponding depuration rate constants were 0.0303 and 0.0106 h(-1), respectively. It appears that real-time ambient TBT pollution status can be more closely reflected in this species. The shrimp may serve as a biomonitor to indicate short-term fluctuations in ambient TBT pollution. A field survey was also conducted to distinguish contrasts in butyltin accumulation under different ambient conditions. These observations provide valuable information for the evaluation of TBT pollution status in the environment using A. intermedius as a biomonitor.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nano- and fine-sized particles are associated with respiratory toxicity in humans, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Our previous nuclear magnetic resonance-based metabolomic study demonstrated that changes in phosphorylcholine-containing lipids (PC-CLs) in the respiratory system were associated with ZnO particle-induced respiratory toxicity. However, the details of the lipid species associated with adverse effects and possible biomarker signatures have not been identified. Thus, a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based lipidomics platform was applied to examine the alterations of PC-CL species in the lungs of rats treated with a series of concentrations of nano-sized (35 nm) or fine-sized (250 nm) ZnO particles via inhalation. Principal component analysis (PCA), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and the Mann-Whitney U (MWU) test with false discovery rate (FDR) control were conducted to explore the perturbed lipid species and to discriminate a potential pulmonary biomarker signature after ZnO particle exposure. The PCA and PLS-DA models revealed that the fine-sized ZnO particle-treated groups and the high-concentration nano-sized group were separated from the control groups as well as from the low and moderate nano-sized groups. The results from the MWU test further suggested that after FDR adjustment, numerous PC-CL species were altered in the high-concentration and moderate-concentration fine-sized groups. Furthermore, our results suggested that lipids involved in anti-oxidation, membrane conformation, and cellular signal transduction were altered in response to ZnO-induced oxidative stress and inflammation. One lipid, PC(18:0/18:1), exhibited good performance (AUC > 0.8) of discriminative ability in distinguishing ZnO particle exposure from the control. These findings not only provide a foundation for the exploration of possible ZnO particle-mediated mechanisms but also suggest a lipid biomarker for ZnO particle exposure.